Ponderings #7

Am I the only person on Earth who...


Never read the Harry Potter books?

Never read any Jane Austen?

Never watched a James Bond film all the way through?

Refuses to set up a Facebook page?


Please, tell me I'm not alone!

Pond Ramblings

For this group of photos you're going to wish I had a decent zoom lens on my camera.  Be prepared to click and enlarge these and maybe find a magnifying glass for additional help!


See MamaDog sitting on the bank?  What does she see?

In the middle of the photo, right in front of the grass in the water, there is a small beaver.  He turned and went the other way once he realized MamaDog was on the bank watching him.  He's making quite a wake behind him!

Here is where the beaver lives.  We can pull the boat in and fish all around the lodge.  We're not sure exactly how many live there.

Can you see the tiny little birds sitting on the top branch of the dead tree?
Good fishing spot!

This one is much harder to see.  Try looking at the dead limb right in the middle of the photo that looks almost as if it's lying on the edge of the grass.  You might be able to make out the grayish bird sitting on it, almost in the water lilies.

I bet you can see this one just fine!  Suzy and MamaDog have been terrible this year about trying to swim out to us while we are fishing.  They have ruined more good spots for us in the process!!  Suzy got all tangled in the grass one evening so I felt sorry for her and dragged her into the boat with us.  Nasty!  On this occasion we just waved her on.  She easily made it to the bank where she proceeded to shake and roll (but not rattle).

I'm sorry my photography is so poor.
It doesn't do justice to the beauty at our pond.

Finger Lickin' Dead by Riley Adams

This is the third book I've read by Elizabeth Spann Craig and the second written under her pen name, Riley Adams. 

Finger Lickin Dead by Riley Adams is the second in the "Memphis BBQ Mystery" series and it was a real treat to once again visit Lulu and her quirky gang at Aunt Pat's BBQ on Beale Street.  This time around there is a vicious restaurant critic on the loose in Memphis.  It's bad enough that "Eppie Currian" turns out to be Evelyn's unfaithful ex-husband/current boyfriend, but then he turns up dead!  Of course there's no shortage of suspects and Lulu (assisted by her granddaughter Ella Beth) decides to get to the bottom of things. This was an entertaining mystery and I look forward to more adventures with Lulu!   

Considering the best pulled pork BBQ recipe ever came from the back of the first Memphis BBQ Mystery, I was thrilled to see more recipes in the back of this one.  Despite my current efforts to shed (quite) a few pounds, there are a couple of recipes I'm going to have to try!


This is my seventh book for the Cozy Mystery Challenge so I've technically met the requirement.  However, I picked out nine books when I signed up and plan to read all of them before I consider the challenge completed. 

Shadow Shot Sunday #32

Shadows on Jed

Shadow Shot Sunday
Hosted by Hey Harriet

Vegetable Frittata

After reading several of your comments on my Baked Frittata post, I decided to give it another shot just using vegetables.  I think I liked this version even better!

6 eggs
1 sweet orange pepper, diced
1/4 of a purple onion, diced
about 5 ounces of fresh spinach
7 ounces Gouda cheese, grated

Whisk eggs then add remaining ingredients.  Pour into a greased 8x8-inch cooking dish and bake at 375F for approximately 20-30 minutes.

Random stuff

I stepped into the back yard to scoop poop this week and realized something.  The cicadas are gone!!  I'm not sure exactly when I last heard them, but I think it's been awhile.  I'm glad their lifespan above ground is short and I'm also glad I won't have to listen to that again for another 13 years!

I'm getting excited about our pears.  Wait, let me back up for a minute...  My husband has always wanted to have pecan trees and fruit trees.  When we first moved to the country, he planted quite a few on a spot he cleared at the north end of our property (pre-pasture/livestock/pond days).  Despite meticulous care, they didn't make it.  I think the worst was when kids(?) on ATVs destroyed quite a few of them by running over them!  He tried again when we were big into the goat business.  Well, you can imagine what happened with that.  Just think goats, horns, and the need to butt things.  A few years ago he decided to give it one more try with three pear trees in our front yard.  Two of them have fruit this year!!  I'm hoping to at least get a pie or cobbler out of the deal if we can fend off the bugs, birds and whatever else might get in the way.

For this final item you might want to quit reading if you're the type who switches the channel when the lion starts chasing the antelope during the nature show.  My husband was working in our new "pool garden" (which deserves an entry of its own) and I was standing on the back steps calling for Alice and Mabel to come in while taking in the heavenly aroma of our gardenias that are blooming.  All of a sudden we heard a huge crashing noise and I saw something fall from a tree.  Immediately Suzy and MamaDog went tearing into the woods.  My husband asked "What was that??" and I told him I thought it looked like a squirrel fell out of the tree.  He looked a little skeptical and said that squirrels were very sure-footed creatures.  I said maybe the branch broke off when it jumped on it.  Before he could counter that, here came Suzy prancing out of the woods with a live squirrel in her mouth looking very pleased with herself.  I'll stop my story there.  Besides... I decided it was time to come back inside at that point. 

 

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

I had never heard of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts until I posted my intention to participate in the Global Reading Challenge this year and Marion recommended it as a potential book.  Based on its length (a whopping 933 pages), I was wavering until the title came up again in a review by Bragger.  I decided to go ahead and put it on my list.  Saving the longest two books chosen for this challenge for last, the time came to pick it up a few weeks ago.  Yes, it took me more than two weeks to read it, but I'm really glad I did.

It's difficult to sum up this book in just a paragraph or two.  Loosely based on the author's real-life experiences, Shantaram takes place in 1980s Bombay (Mumbai), India.  As the book opens we are introduced to Lin, the central character, as he arrives in Bombay using a fake New Zealand passport, having escaped from an Australian prison a few years prior.  We follow his story as he lives and operates a medical clinic in the slums, becomes involved with the Bombay mafia, fights his way through Afghanistan as a gunrunner, then returns to Bombay and the mafia. 

Often when I finish a book that I've enjoyed, I like to go back and read some of the reviews at Amazon... in particular, the bad reviews to see what they disliked.  I can relate a little to some of the complaints.  The prose was a little flowery for my taste at times and some of the "philosopy" did seem a bit cliche.  However, if I were one to underline or make notations in my books there were many things in this novel I would have marked.  I loved the characters and especially loved the setting.  From what I can gather, Roberts did a fine job of representing Bombay and the people of India.

I'm so glad I didn't let the length of this book and my short attention span deter me.  It's a marvelous tale filled with love, hate, action, adventure, danger, horrors, sorrow and joy.  If you enjoy lengthy, sweeping epics I highly recommend it.  It was certainly worth my time.


This completes my Asia portion of the Global Reading Challenge.  One more book to complete the entire challenge and it's another lengthy one! 

Shadow Shot Sunday #31

Shadows in a Pear Tree
(rather than a Partridge in a Pear Tree!)

Shadow Shot Sunday
Hosted by Hey Harriet

My Rubber Chicken

I remember when I got her.  It was August 2006 and we were in Memphis, TN.  I purchased her with tickets I won playing skeeball in an arcade.  Just over two inches long from beak to talon, she sat in a special place by my phone where I could pick her up and play with her while talking.  In time her neck broke and hung by a thread.  The final straw was when her "egg" broke.  I had to throw her away.

My younger daughter sent me a text earlier this week while on a day trip with her boyfriend.  She told me she'd gotten me a surprise.  Yesterday she came to visit and brought it with her.  A new chicken!!!  This one is huge in comparison to my original (more than seven inches long), but just as entertaining. 

Here you can see her "egg" peeking out.

You have to be careful not to pop the egg out while squeezing!
See the yolk?

"Ack!  Let go of my neck!"

Chilling in the chair.



There now.  You've either been entertained or grossed out.  At the very least, you're now convinced that I'm a little "touched". 

Rosemary Caper Chicken

I had every intention of taking a picture of this dish as soon as it came out of the oven... even had the camera sitting on the kitchen table.  We were hungry, though, and everything smelled so good that I got distracted and forgot until it was too late. 

Rather than use olive oil I sprayed the pan and the chicken with olive oil cooking spray.  Worked out fine.  I'll definitely make this again.


Rosemary Caper Chicken contributed to Angels on Earth magazine by
Stephanie Thompson of Edmond, OK

1/4 cup olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
lemon pepper seasoning
3 fresh sprigs rosemary
1-1/2 tablespoons capers

Pour olive oil into a small casserole dish.  Place chicken in dish and turn so that both sides are coated with oil.  Sprinkle seasoning on both sides as well.  Add sprigs of rosemary on either side of the chicken and one on the middle.  Cover and bake at 400F for 15 minutes.  Add capers and bake uncovered for 15 minutes or until done.